Distributable Serializable Finite State Machine

ABSTRACT

A distributable and serializable finite state machine and methods for using the distributable and serializable finite state machine are provided wherein finite state machine instance can be location-shifted, time-shifted or location-shift and time-shifted, for example by serializing and deserializing each instance. Each instance can be located-shifted between agents, and a persistent memory storage location is provided to facilitate both location-shifting and time-shifting. Finite state machine instances and the actions that make up each instance can be run in a distributed fashion among a plurality of agents.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a division of co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/620,558 filed Jan. 5, 2007. The entiredisclosure of that application is incorporated herein by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

The invention disclosed herein was made with U.S. Government supportunder Contract No. H98230-05-3-0001 awarded by the U.S. Department ofDefense. The Government has certain rights in this invention.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to information processing systems. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus fordata driven finite state machine engine for flow control in adistributed computing environment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Finite State Machines (FSMs), also known as finite automata, depictbehavioral models composed of inputs, states, transitions, and outputs(or actions). Two well known finite state machine types are Moore andMealy FSMs. In Moore machines, the output depends on state, whereas inMealy machines the output depends on transition. These FSM abstractionswere described by their namesakes in the late 1950's and have beenwidely utilized in a variety of fields including mathematics, logic,linguistics and computer science, for the past half century. Inpractice, many FSMs employ both types of machines in combination. OtherFSMs have also been described, as have methods to transform one typeinto another.

Specified FSMs can be classified into two groups: recognizers andtransducers. Recognizers produce binary output: yes/true (recognized) orno/false (not recognized). Transducers generate output based on inputand/or current state and are often used to control applications.Transducers transform (or map) ordered sets of input events intocorresponding ordered sets of output events.

FSMs are used with some regularity to control computer systems andapplications, both in hardware and software. In many applications, thespecified FSMs are hard-wired or hard-coded, as the case may be, intothe system or application. In general, the FSM is developed based upon aspecific application, and methods or systems are required to provide forthe creation or development of the FSM in accordance with theapplication requirements. Some customizable general purpose FSMs havebeen devised to aide in the development of control mechanisms forcomputer systems and applications.

An example of a system and method for implementing a FSM based uponconfiguration data is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,039,893. A FSM Engineis used to generate specific configurations for different state machinesbased on configuration data using a common method. This commonconfiguration structure is used for all state machine implementations,and changes in the state machine design drive changes in theconfiguration data instead of in executable software. Multiple softwarestate machines are thus implemented using a configurable approach. Inaddition, state machine processing is performed periodically and statetransition events are handled without the need for an event drivenoperating system. The disclosed approach, however, has severaldeficiencies. For example, a new FSM is needed for each instance, andcustomized executable code, e.g., as described in the preferredembodiment the “configuration data” are C language code and headerfiles, is produced from the FSM model. In addition, a newproduction-compilation-deployment cycle is needed to incorporate FSMmodel changes into running systems.

An alternative approach utilized web services-business process executionlanguage (WS-BPEL) that provides both externalization and an executionengine. However, WS-BPEL does not enforce FSM control flows. Therefore,WS-BPEL flows can be written that do not conform to any FSMSpecification. Another disadvantage of WS-BPEL is that there are noguarantees to model the entire flow, e.g. all states and statetransitions, thus failing to provide any level of assurance orprovability.

Expressing an FSM externally as Extensible Markup Language (XML) is alsowell known in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer gamingliterature (see for example http://www.igda.org/ai/report-2004/fsm.htmlor http://www.wcodeproject.com/csharp/xmlfsm.asp). These externallyspecified FSMs have not separated execution from state maintenance.

More generally, FSMs have been defined using state tables as in “TheVirtual Finite State Machine Implementation Paradigm” (seehttp://www.lucent.com/minds/techiournal/pdf/winter_(—)97/paper08.pdf).Again, these techniques have been used to generate customized code.

Finite State Machines (FSMs) have been employed to solve a wide varietyof problems since their conception in the 1950's. They've often beenembedded within applications. Some embedded FSMs have a distributedaspect. For example, in published U.S. Patent Application no.2005/0169286 titled “Distributed finite state machine”, an embedded FSMis used to provide “a rate limiting mechanism in the router”. Although aparticular distributed FSM is described, no instruction is directedtoward a general system for defining and employing arbitrary,distributed FSMs. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,484 titled “Virtualinterconnections for reconfigurable logic systems” another embeddeddistributed finite state machine is described, but no teaching on how todescribe and implement arbitrary, distributed FSMs in a structured andsystematic way is presented. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,369 titled“Coordinating the states of a distributed finite state machine” a methodfor coordinating the states of a distributed finite state machine isgiven. However, the previous methods fail to disclose a method andsystem to specify and manage user defined FSMs, including the behaviorof FSMs, i.e., states, transitions and actions, and the distribution ofFSM components in time and space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method for utilizing finite statemachines in a computing system. In one embodiment, at least one instanceof a finite state machine specification containing a plurality of statesand a plurality of transitions between the states is initiated on afirst agent. This finite state machine instance is then shifted from thefirst agent to a second agent. In one embodiment, initiation of theinstance includes initiating a plurality of concurrent finite statemachine instances for at least one finite state machine. These pluralityof finite state machine instances are initiated on two or more firstagents. Having initiated a plurality of instance, shifting of theseinstances involves shifting the finite state machine instances among aplurality of different agents.

In one embodiment, shifting of each finite state machine instanceincludes removing the finite state machine instance from the firstagent, saving the removed finite state machine instance in persistentstorage, removing the finite state machine instance from persistentstorage and resuming the finite state machine instance on the secondagent. In addition, any given finite state machine instance can beremoved from the first agent, saved in persistent storage and held inpersistent storage for a period of time. After the expiration of thisperiod of time, the finite state machine instance is removed frompersistent storage and returned to the first agent, i.e. it is timeshifted. In one embodiment, shifting finite state machine instancesincludes serializing the finite state machine instance, deserializingthe finite state machine instance, serializing context data associatedwith the finite state machine instance, and deserializing the contextdata. Serializing the finite state machine instance further includesserializing the finite state machine instance at the first agent, anddeserializing the finite state machine instance further includesdeserializing the finite state machine instance at the second agent. Inone embodiment, serializing the context data further includesserializing the context data at the first agent, and deserializing thecontext data further includes deserializing the context data at thesecond agent.

The transitions associated with the finite state machine instance areexecuted to move the finite state machine instance between at least oneof the states and agents. Execution of the transitions includesexecuting one or more distributed actions associated with eachtransition. These action associated with each transition can be executedon two or more agents. In one embodiment, the finite state machineinstance is shifted in response to the execution of one of thetransitions. In one embodiment, at least one externalized queue iscreated, and the current state of the initiate finite state machineinstance is recorded in the externalized queue. This externalized queueis utilized between an application requesting the finite state machineinstance and the finite state machine instance. In one embodiment,creation of the externalized queue includes creating a finite statemachine proxy. In one embodiment, the externalized queue is disposed ona third agent different from the first and second agents.

Methods for utilizing finite state machines in a computing system inaccordance with the present invention also include initiating on a firstagent at least one instance of a finite state machine specificationcontaining a plurality of states and a plurality of transitions betweenthe states, removing the finite state machine instance from the firstagent, saving the removed finite state machine instance in persistentstorage and holding the finite state machine instance in persistentstorage for a period of time. In one embodiment, the finite statemachine instance is serialized. In one embodiment, the finite statemachine instance is removed from persistent store following expirationof the period of time and returned to the first agent. In anotherembodiment, the finite state machine instance is removed from persistentstorage and returned to a second agent. In one embodiment, shifting thefinite state machine instances includes at least one of serializing thefinite state machine instance, deserializing the finite state machineinstance, serializing context data associated with the finite statemachine instance and deserializing the context data.

Embodiments of the present invention are also directed to methods forutilizing finite state machines in a computing system that includeinitiating on a first agent at least one instance of a finite statemachine specification containing a plurality of states and a pluralityof transitions between the states, serializing the finite state machineinstance in progress and deserializing the finite state machineinstance. In one embodiment, serializing includes serializing the finitestate machine instance on a first agent, and deserializing includesdeserializing the finite state machine on a second agent. In oneembodiment, the first agent is disposed on a different physical nodethan the second agent. In one embodiment in order to advance the finitestate machine instance through the states, a plurality of transitions isexecuted. The plurality of transitions can be executed in series. In oneembodiment, one or more actions associated with each transition areexecuted on two or more agents. The present invention is also directedto computer-readable mediums containing a computer-readable code thatwhen read by a computer causes the computer to perform method forutilizing finite state machines in a computing system in accordance withthe present invention.

The present invention is also directed to a method for managing finitestate machines in a computing system using an application programinterface. In accordance with this method, a distributed finite statemachine control application program interface is used to perform atleast one of determining a set of finite state machine instances,selecting a target instance, forwarding a transition to a targetinstance, forwarding an event to a target instance, registering aninstance, unregistering an instance, registering a transition event andunregistering a transition event.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of a runtimearchitecture of a distributable, serializable finite state machine inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an embodiment of a timeline depictingdistribution of finite state machine instances across time periods andlocations;

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of thedistribution of finite state machine transitions and states;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of thedistribution of finite state machine actions among agents;

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of serial andparallel distribution actions of a transition in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of a finite statemachine application program interface for directing instancedistribution; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of distributedinstance and proxies in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A finite state machine (FSM), including either a Mealy or a Moore FSM,facilitates behavior modeling. FSMs are generally well known to those ofskill in the art and typically contain states, transitions between thestates and actions contained in each transition. Included within a givenFSM are instructions regarding how to begin a process, how to movebetween states within a process via transitions, what actions to takewhen entering a state, leaving a state, or performing a transition andhow to end a process.

Object technology in general, for example classes in the Java language,is widely used. Objects allow for defining entity types and for creatingobject instances, which are realizations of particular occurrences ofsuch typed entities.

A finite state machine instance (“FSM Instance”) is an object instancerepresentation of an FSM, as described, for example, in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/444,129 filed May 31, 2006 and titled “UnifiedJob Processing Of Interdependent Heterogeneous Tasks and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/619,691 filed Jan. 4, 2007 and titled“Data-Driven Finite State Machine for Flow Control”. In general, finitestate machines are utilized in a computing system to run instances ofuser-defined routines. Initially, one or more schemas are defined thatcontain the validity parameters for any finite state machine.User-generated finite state machine specifications, which contain aplurality of states and a plurality of transitions between the states,are evaluated for compliance with the schemas. In one embodiment, eachone of the plurality of transitions includes at least one methodinvocation on at least one object instance. In one embodiment, at leastone transition in the plurality of transitions is a time-basedtransition. The object instances can be determined at runtime. In oneembodiment, the plurality of transitions is used to process eventobjects that contain computing system context additional to proxy state.

Compliant user-generated finite state machine specifications areinterpreted. When a request is received from a computing system for aninstance of the user-generated finite state machine specification, therequested instance of the user-generated finite state machinespecification is initiated. One or more of the plurality of transitionsand the actions that constitute each transition in the finite statemachine specification are used to advance the instance of theuser-generated finite state machine specification through the pluralityof states. In one embodiment, a notification mechanism to be invokedwhen processing at least one of the plurality of transitions in therequested instance of the finite state machine specification isspecified. In addition, externally defined states and transitions can beannotated with descriptive information, for example in the form ofname-value pairs. In one embodiment, a user-generated finite statemachine specification containing properties associated with a state, atransition or combinations thereof is interpreted, for example by theinterpretive FSM Engine. The FSM then makes this information availableto one or more computing systems on demand, i.e. the defined propertiesare communicated to the computing systems.

In order to facilitate compliance with the prescribed schema, thedefined schema is communicated to one or more users and the finite statemachine engine that receives the user-generated finite state machinespecifications and evaluates these specifications for compliance withthe schema. These user-generated finite state machine specifications canbe expressed as an extensible mark-up language document or as a diagramin a unified modeling language editing tool.

In one embodiment in order to execute the requested instance of thefinite state machine, the current state of the initiated requestedinstance of the user-generated finite state machine is recorded in anexternalized queue. Preferably, the externalized queue is a proxy thatrepresents the current state of the initiated requested instance of theuser-generated finite state machine specification.

In addition to receiving and initiating instances of new finite statemachine specifications, updates to existing specifications can also behandled. In one embodiment, a user-generated finite state machinespecification update is received from a user at the finite state machineengine and is evaluated for compliance with the schemas. Theseuser-generated finite state machine specification updates includeupdates to at least one previously interpreted user-generated finitestate machine specification. As with the original finite state machinespecifications, the user-generated finite state machine specificationupdate is interpreted, and the previously interpreted user-generatedfinite state machine specification is updated in accordance with theuser-generated finite state machine specification update. These updatesinclude, but are not limited to, adding one or more transitions,deleting one or more transitions, changing an existing transition,adding method calls that perform an existing transition, removing methodcalls that perform an existing transition, adding an object map,deleting an object map, changing an object map, adding a state, removinga state, changing a state, adding a state entry method call, deleting astate entry method call, adding a state exit method call, deleting astate exit method call and combinations thereof.

A given FSM can have multiple instances, and each FSM Instance of thatgiven FSM represents a separately executing process represented by thatFSM. Each FSM Instance operates with its own private contextualinformation. FSM Instances may or may not share the same executablecode. An FSM Instance is considered to be an atomic unit, not in-and-ofitself separable into smaller parallizable pieces for distribution amonga collection of processing agents. An FSM Instance may be represented byan FSM Externalized Queue or FSM Proxy to an FSM Engine that processestransitions specified by the FSM to advance FSM Instances betweenstates. As with the FSM Instance, the FSM Proxy and the FSM Enginefollow the object technology model. Although the terms FSM Proxy and FSMInstance are sometimes used interchangeably, and at an abstract levelthis is correct, in practice the FSM Proxy is distinguishable from theFSM Instance and provides an interface between the application utilizingthe FSM Instance and the FSM Instance. In one embodiment, the FSM Proxyoffers a level of indirection such that, for example, the instance maybe local to one platform or host, and the proxy may be remotely locatedwithin a distributed application.

As an example of FSM Instances, a financial institution may define anFSM enabling customers to acquire a home mortgage. Other FSMsrepresenting a variety of control flows may also be defined for taskssuch as obtaining a car loan, opening a new customer checking accountand transferring funds from another financial institution.

For each customer application for a home mortgage, a new FSM Instance ofthe home mortgage FSM is created. Each FSM Instance represents one homemortgage application control flow context and includes a current stateand valid transitions to next states. FSM Instances may share the samecontrol flow, e.g., shared executable code, but each FSM Instance hasits own private context, e.g., current state. At any instant in time,multiple FSM Instances of the mortgage application FSM may be running,for example one FSM Instance in an application received state, anotherin a waiting for property appraisal state and yet another in an approvedstate.

Operations, e.g., FSM Transitions, on FSM Instances are transactionaland follow the well known atomicity, consistency, isolation, anddurability (ACID) properties associated with database management. Forexample, two separate updates occurring to one mortgage application inclose time proximity will produce the desired and correct result in theapplication. A transition to add property appraisal information does notunintentionally wipe out some previous transition that saved customercredit check information.

An “agent” is any FSM Instance host, which could be, for example, aseparate hardware computing platform or a virtual machine. Continuingthe mortgage application analogy, each bank branch may be an “agent”where a customer's mortgage application is processed in part. The localbranch (e.g., agent) may accept the mortgage application. A centralbranch (e.g., another agent) may process a certain aspect of themortgage application, such as performing a credit check. A hired outsideauthority (e.g., yet another agent) may process another aspect such asan appraisal of the associated property. And so forth.

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of a runtime architecture100 for handling instances of a distributable, serializable finite statemachine in accordance with the present invention is illustrated. Thearchitecture contains three agents 25, “Agent 0” 110, “Agent 1” 111, and“Agent 2” 112, although suitable architectures are not limited to anynumber of agents. A plurality of FSM Instances 35 of a given FSM can bedeployed on these agents. Hosted on “Agent 0” are FSM Instances “A” 120,“B” 130 and “C” 140. On “Agent 1” are shown FSM Instances “A” 121 and“C” 141. On “Agent 2” are shown FSM Instances “A” 122 and “D” 152. Thearchitecture illustrates how the FSM Instances can be located on variousagents; however, the architecture does not illustrate any given timeperiod. Therefore, for example, FSM Instance “A” can be located on allthree agents at three different times, not all at the same time. Thelocation of the various FSM Instances over time is illustrated in FIG.2.

As is illustrated in FIG. 1, suitable agents 25 include, but are notlimited to, computer hardware platforms and virtual machines capable ofhosting applications that employ distributable finite state machinetechnology as described herein. Therefore, the architecture furtherincludes at least one FSM Engine 160. The FSM Engine processes thetransitions associated with each FSM Instance. Transitions move thefinite state machine of an FSM Instance from state to state, beginningat its start state and terminating at its end state. In one embodiment,a single FSM Engine is shared by a plurality of agents. Alternatively,the architecture includes a plurality of FSM Engines, and each engine isassociated with one or more agents. In one embodiment, FSM Instances arerepresented to the FSM Engine by an FSM Proxy as described in, forexample, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/619,691 filed Jan. 4, 2007and titled “Data-Driven Finite State Machine for Flow Control”.

In one embodiment, the architecture includes at least one persistentstorage 170 system. The persistent storage systems are in communicationwith the agents and the FSM Engines. Suitable persistent storage systemsinclude, but are not limited to, databases, computer file systems, harddrives, messages to another host and combinations thereof. FSM Instancesat a given current state are saved to the persistent storage. FSMEngines, which are in communication with the agents, evict or remove apersisted FSM Instance from a first agent and transfer or resume thesame FSM Instance on a second agent. In addition, FSM Engines evict apersisted FSM Instance from a first agent, place that FSM Instance inpersistent storage, remove that instance from persistent storage at somelater time and resume the same FSM Instance on the second agent or thefirst agent. Therefore, the FSM Engines working in conjunction with theagents and persistent storage shift FSM Instances in either time orlocation or both time and location. Therefore, FSM Instances aretime-shifted, location-shifted, or both.

Mapping the home mortgage application example to FIG. 1, “Agent 0” 110is a computing platform located at a local branch. “Agent 1” 111 is acomputing platform at a central branch, and “Agent 2” 112 is a computingservice provided by a third party. FSM Instance “A” is a mortgageapplication for George and Martha Washington. FSM Instance “B” is amortgage application for Thomas Jefferson, and FSM Instance “C” is amortgage application for John and Abigail Adams. FSM Instance “D” is acar loan application for Alexander Hamilton that is in need of a usedcar appraisal.

At a first point in time, the Washington's mortgage application, FSMInstance “A” 120, is accepted at the local bank branch “Agent 0” 110. Ata second point in time the mortgage application, FSM Instance “A” 121has been transferred to the central bank branch “Agent 1” 111 forprocessing a customer credit check. At a subsequent third period oftime, the mortgage application, FSM Instance “A” 122, has beentransferred to another service provider “Agent 2” 112 for a propertyappraisal. At a given point in time, Jefferson's mortgage application,FSM Instance “B” 130 has arrived at the local bank branch “Agent 0” 110,for example to start a credit check.

Referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary embodiment of a timeline 200 of FSMInstances deployed to various agents from time period t₀ through timeperiod t₄ is illustrated. The timeline illustrates time-shifted andlocation-shifted. FSM Instances. During time t₀ 202, FSM Instances “A”95, “B” 96 and “C” 97 are deployed to “Agent 0” 110. There are no FSMInstances currently running on “Agent 1” 111 or “Agent 2” 112. Inaddition, there are no FSM Instances in persistent storage 170.

During time period t₁ 204, FSM Instances “A” and “C” have been deployedto “Agent 1” 111, and “Agent 0” and “Agent 2” have no running FSMInstances. FSM Instance “B” has been placed into persistent storage 170during this time period. Thus, FSM Instances “A” and “C” have beenlocation-shifted from the previous time period to the present timeperiod. That is, between time periods t₀ and t₁, FSM Instances “A” and“C” moved from “Agent 0” to “Agent 1”. Moving involves evicting theinstance from the agent where it was installed, then deploying andresuming the instance at the new agent. FSM Instance “B” is in theprocess of being time-shifted, having been delegated to persistentstorage 170 and evicted from “Agent 0”.

During time period t₂ 206, FSM Instance “C” remains on “Agent 1”. Thus,during time period t₂ FSM Instance “C” has been neither time-shifted norlocation-shifted. FSM Instance “A” has been moved again, this time from“Agent 1” 111 to “Agent 2” 112. Therefore, during time period t₂ FSMInstance “A” has once again been location-shifted. FSM Instance “B” hasbeen removed from persistent storage and redeployed and resumed on“Agent 0”. The time-shifting of FSM Instance “B” has been completed. NewFSM Instances “D” and “E” 98, 99 have been deployed to “Agent 2” and“Agent 0” respectively.

During time period t₃ 208, FSM Instances “B”, “D”, and “E” continue onthe same agents from the previous period respectively, no time- orlocation-shifting. FSM Instance “A” has once again beenlocation-shifted, this time from “Agent 2” to “Agent 0”. FSM Instance“C” is now in the process of being time-shifted, having been evictedfrom “Agent 1” and saved to persistent storage.

During time period t₄ 210, FSM Instances “B” and “D” continue on thesame agents from the previous period respectively, no time- orlocation-shifting. FSM Instance “A” has once again beenlocation-shifted, this time from “Agent 0” to “Agent 1”. FSM Instance“C” has been removed from persistent storage and redeployed and resumedon “Agent 0”, completing the time-shifting of FSM Instance “C”. FSMInstance “E” has completed processing and does not appear in either anagent or in persistent storage. New FSM Instances “F” 90 and “G” 91 havebeen deployed to “Agent 1” and “Agent 2” respectively.

Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary embodiment of the distribution of asingle FSM Instance over time 300 among a plurality of agents inaccordance with the present invention is illustrated. During time periodt₀ 302, FSM Instance “A” is deployed to “Agent 0” 110 and is in “State0” 320. “Transition 0” 330 occurs, causing the state of FSM Instance “A”to advance to “State 0”, with no effect on its location. Although thetransition did not cause the FSM Instance to change state or location,transitions that advance a given instance to the same state may causestate exit, transition and re-entry actions to occur. “Transition 1” 331occurs, advancing the state of FSM Instance “A” from “State 0” to “State1” 321 and causing FSM Instance “A” to be location-shifted from “Agent0” to “Agent 1” 111.

During time period t₁ 304, FSM Instance “A” is deployed to “Agent 1” andis in “State 1” 321. “Transition 2” 332 occurs, advancing the state ofFSM Instance “A” to “State 2” 322 and shifting FSM Instance “A” to“Agent 2” 112.

During time period t₂ 306, FSM Instance “A” is deployed to “Agent 2” 112and is initially in “State 2” 322. “Transition 3” 333 occurs, advancingFSM Instance “A” from “State 2” to “State 3” 323. However, nolocation-shift occurs in this case. Later, “Transition 4” 334 occurs,causing the state of FSM Instance “A” to advance from “State 3” to“State 4” 324 and shifting FSM Instance “A” from “Agent 2” to “Agent 0”110.

During time period t₃ 308, FSM Instance “A” is deployed to “Agent 0” andis in “State 4” 324. Next, “Transition 5” 335 occurs, advancing FSMInstance “A” from “State 4” to “State 5” 325. “Transition 5” causes FSMInstance “A” to be once again location-shifted, this time from “Agent 0”to “Agent 1” 111. During time period t₄ 310, FSM Instance “A” isdeployed to “Agent 1” 111 and is in “State 5” 325. A transition, a stateentry or a state exit may trigger location-shifting, time-shifting orboth location-shifting and time-shifting.

Referring to FIG. 4, an exemplary embodiment an FSM Instance having itsactions transparently distributed 400 among a collection of agents inaccordance with the present invention is illustrated. During time periodt₀, FSM Instance “A” 120 is deployed to “Agent 0” 110 and is in “State0” 320. “Transition 0” 330 occurs, the effect of which is to cause asequence of actions 430, 431, 432, 433, and 434 to be carried out as thetransition implementation before landing back in “State 0” again. Thesequence of actions is executed sequentially in a distributed fashionfrom the first action, “Action 0” 430, through the last action, “Action4” 434. “Action 0” is executed on “Agent 1” 111, “Action 1” is executedon “Agent 2” 112, “Action 3” and “Action 4” are executed on “Agent 3”113, and “Action 4” is executed on “Agent 0” 110. In another embodiment,these actions are executed in parallel (not shown). Although not shown,state entry and exit actions, if any, are similarly distributable.

Referring to FIG. 5, an exemplary embodiment of a single FSM Transition700 containing a plurality of actions that are executed both in seriesand in parallel on a plurality of agents in accordance with the presentinvention is illustrated. This transition 700, referred to as“Transition 8”, contains action 0 through action 10 for a total ofeleven actions. These eleven actions are arranged in a plurality ofgroups. As illustrated, the actions are arranged in five groups 710,720, 730, 740, 750. Each group contains at least one action. The actiongroups are executed in serialized fashion in that all of the actionscontained in a first group are executed before any of the actions in asecond group. For example, the two actions contained in the first group710 are completed before the single action in the second group 720 istriggered. Thus, the second action group 720 cannot start until thefirst action group 710 is completed. Likewise, the third action group730 cannot start until the second action group 720 completes and soforth until the fifth action group 750. Since the transition 700 is notcomplete until all of the actions in the transition are complete,transition 700 is not finished until the fifth action group 750 iscompleted. The transition 700 was initiated by executing the firstaction group 710.

Although the action groups are executed in series, actions within agiven action group can be executed either in series or in parallel. Forexample, in the first action group 710, “Action 0” 711 and “Action 1”712 are executed in parallel. In the second action group 720 there isonly a single action, “Action 2” 721. In the third action group 730,“Action 3” 731, “Action 4” 732, “Action 5” 733, “Action 6” 734, “Action7” 735 and “Action 8” 736 are initiated or executed in parallel.Following the execution of all the actions in the third action group730, the single action, “Action 9” 741, in the fourth action group 740is executed followed by the execution of the single action “Action 10”751 in the fifth action group 750.

As was discussed and illustrated in FIG. 4, the actions in the actiongroups of FIG. 5 are executed on a plurality of agents 705. Any numberand arrangement of agents can be used, and each action can be executedon a distinct agent. As illustrated, the plurality of agents includes“Agent 0” 760, “Agent 1” 761, “Agent 2” 762 and “Agent 3” 763. Action 0,Action 2, Action 3, Action 4 and Action 9 are executed on or performedby “Agent 0” 760. Action 1 and Action 5 are performed by “Agent 1” 761,and Action 6, Action 7 and Action 10 are performed by “Agent 2” 762.Action 8 is performed by “Agent 3” 763. Distribution of actions amongthe plurality of agents is governed through a Distributed FSM ControlAPI discussed below with respect to FIG. 6. Whether containing actionsare executed in series, in parallel or both, a transition, state entryor state exit containing these actions must have all these actionscompleted before the corresponding operation or transition is completed,e.g., new state realized upon transition completion.

Each agent, in order to execute the given action, may need FSM orapplication specific context information. In addition, each action mayindependently send events that may trigger another transition from thepresent state of the FSM Instance. During the current transition, stateentry or state exit, the distributed group of actions, regardless ofwhether the actions occur in series or in parallel, that constitute thetransition operate under the same unchanging FSM Instance state. An FSMInstance state change does not occur until all actions of the currenttransition are completed.

Referring to FIG. 6, an exemplary embodiment of application control 500of a finite state machine in accordance with the present invention isillustrated. As illustrated, an application 510 is in communication withat least one distributed FSM control application program interface (API)520. Suitable applications include, but are not limited to, anapplication that employs a given FSM Instance, a network manager, anoperating system and a human-computer interaction display and commandcenter. The application 510 sends requests to and receives informationfrom the distributed FSM control API 520. Suitable interactionsavailable to the application through the API 520 include, but are notlimited to, determining the set of FSM Instances available 530,selecting a target instance 531, location shifting a given instance 532,for example forwarding a transition or event to a target instanceincluding remote target instance and local target instances, registeringand un-registering instances 533, registering and un-registeringtransition events 534 and evicting, persisting or resuming a giveninstance (not shown). The registration of instances and transitionevents allows the distributed application to specify callback proceduresin order to make self-accommodations when time-shifting orlocation-shifting, including preserving and restoringapplication-specific context. In addition to allowing an application toperform distribution related activities, the API 520 also facilitatescontrol of other aspects of the distributed, serializable FSM behavior,for example accepting new FSM Specifications and accepting FSMSpecification updates. Distribution of actions containing transitions,state entry and state exit are also controllable.

Referring to FIG. 7, an exemplary embodiment of distributed FSM Proxies600 for finite state machines in accordance with the present inventionis illustrated. An application communicates or interacts with a givenrequested FSM Instance through an FSM proxy. Therefore, an FSM Proxy isan access portal to an FSM Instance. FSM Instances allow multipleindependent specimens of a given FSM to be occurring simultaneously.Proxies allow remote access of FSM Instances. Both the FSM Instances andthe FSM proxies operate on agents. However, the FSM proxy and the FSMInstance do not have to be located on the same agent, i.e. remote accessof an FSM Instance is possible. As illustrated, three FSM proxies arelocated on a first agent, “Agent 0” 110. These proxies include FSM proxy“A” 191, FSM proxy “B” 192 and FSM proxy “D” 195. The FSM Instance 130associated with FSM proxy “B” is also located on “Agent 0”; however, theFSM Instance 121 associated with FSM proxy “A” is located on a secondagent, “Agent 1” 111. In addition, the FSM Instance 112 associated withFSM proxy “D” is located on a third agent, “Agent 2” 112. Therefore, FSMInstance “A” and FSM Instance “D” are remotely located from theircorresponding proxies. Although all three proxies are shown on one agentin this example, there is no restriction as to on which hosts proxiesand instances may be located.

In one exemplary method for utilizing finite states machines inaccordance with the present invention, at least one instance of a finitestate machine is initialized or initiated on a first agent.Alternatively, a plurality of finite state machine instances isinitiated. These include multiple concurrent instances of the samefinite state machine or instances of two or more finite state machines.These instances are typically initiated in response to a request from anapplication or user. Suitable agents are discussed above and include anyplatform suitable to provide for the processing of the finite statemachine instance. When a plurality of finite state machines areinitiated, they may all be initiated on the first agent or may beinitiated on a plurality of separate distinct first agents. When aplurality of agents is used, these agents may all be disposed on asingle node or platform within the computing system or may be disposedon a plurality of nodes distributed throughout the computing system orlocated in two or more domains.

Each finite state machine instance includes a plurality of states and aplurality of transitions between the states. That is, the transitionsadvance the finite state machine through the states. In one embodiment,executing a given transition changes the state of the finite statemachine instance. In another embodiment, executing a given transitionshifts the location of the finite state machine instance, i.e. changesagents, or shifts the finite state machine instance in time, i.e. movesthe finite state machine instance to a persistent storage location. Inone embodiment each transition includes a plurality of actions.Therefore, execution of a given transition involves execution of eachaction in that transition. These actions can be processed in series, inparallel or a combination thereof. In addition, these actions can beexecuted on a single agent, such as the agent on which the finite statemachine instance is located, or on a plurality of separate, distributedagents.

In one embodiment, the finite state machine instance is shifted from thefirst agent where it was initiated to a second agent distinct from thefirst agent. When a plurality of finite state machines instances hasbeen initiated, these instances are shifted among a plurality ofdifferent agents. In one embodiment, shifting of the finite statemachine instances between or among agents is accomplished by directlyremoving each instance from the current agent and transferring andresuming the same instance on the new agent. Alternatively, eachinstance, in moving between agents can be transferred through apersistent storage location. The instance can be moved directly throughthe persistent storage location or can be held in the persistent storagelocation for a period of time. When held for a period of time, theinstance is time shifted as well as location shifted. Therefore, in oneembodiment, shifting of the finite state machine instance between agentsinvolves, removing the finite state machine instance from the firstagent, saving the removed finite state machine instance in persistentstorage, removing the finite state machine instance from persistentstorage and resuming the finite state machine instance on the secondagent. In general, distribution of the finite state machine instancethroughout the various agents as well as distribution of the actionsthat constitute the transitions in the finite state machine instanceoccurs under partial or complete direction of the application utilizingthe finite state machine instance, a separate external, authorizedapplication or system and combinations thereof.

In addition to a finite state machine instance being location shifted orboth location and time shifted, in one embodiment, the finite statemachine instance is just time shifted. The finite state machine instanceis removed from the first agent and saved in persistent storage. Thefinite state machine instance is then held in persistent storage for aperiod of time. Following the period of time, the finite state machineinstance is removed from persistent storage following expiration of theperiod of time and returned to the first agent. The period of time canbe pre-determined or user-defined or can be defined by the occurrence ofan event including the passage of time, a processing agent recycle, aprocessing agent failure and combinations thereof.

In order to facilitate the transfer of finite state machine instancesbetween agents, serializing is used. As used herein, serializing refersto representing a given finite state machine instance in a format thatis independent of a given agent or location so that the instance can becommunicated between locations or stored in the persistent storage.Therefore, in one embodiment, each instance of a finite state machine isserialized and deserialized in progress, that is after the finite statemachine instance has been initiated but before the instance iscompleted. Serializing can be conducted by the agents or by the finitestate machine engine. In one embodiment, the finite state machine engineinstance is serialized at the first agent and deserialized at the secondagent. Application specific data associated with an FSM may also beserialized and deserialized respectively.

In one embodiment, the transitions associated with the finite statemachine instance are executed to move the finite state machine instancebetween states. In addition, the transitions can be executed to producetime and location shifting in the finite state machine instance. In oneembodiment, execution of each transition includes the execution of oneor more actions. These actions can all be executed on a single agent orcan be executed on two or more agents. The agent can be the same agenton which the finite state machine instance is resident or a differentagent.

In one embodiment in order to facilitate communication between thefinite state machine instance and the application utilizing that finitestate machine instance, at least one externalized queue is created.Preferably, the externalized queue is the finite state machine proxy.The current state of the initialized finite state machine instance iscommunicated to the externalized queue so that the externalized queuecan be utilized between the application requesting the finite statemachine instance and the finite state machine instance. Externalizedqueues can be located on the same agent as the finite state machineinstance or on a different agent. In one embodiment, the externalizedqueue is disposed on a third agent different from the first and secondagents. Therefore, the instances and proxies can be utilized in adistributed fashion.

Methods and systems in accordance with exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment,an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing bothhardware and software elements. In a preferred embodiment, the inventionis implemented in software, which includes but is not limited tofirmware, resident software and microcode. In addition, exemplarymethods and systems can take the form of a computer program productaccessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providingprogram code for use by or in connection with a computer, logicalprocessing unit or any instruction execution system. For the purposes ofthis description, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium can beany apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, ortransport the program for use by or in connection with the instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device. Suitable computer-usable orcomputer readable mediums include, but are not limited to, electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems(or apparatuses or devices) or propagation mediums. Examples of acomputer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory,magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory(RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an opticaldisk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read onlymemory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

Suitable data processing systems for storing and/or executing programcode include, but are not limited to, at least one processor coupleddirectly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. Thememory elements include local memory employed during actual execution ofthe program code, bulk storage, and cache memories, which providetemporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce thenumber of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage duringexecution. Input/output or I/O devices, including but not limited tokeyboards, displays and pointing devices, can be coupled to the systemeither directly or through intervening I/O controllers. Exemplaryembodiments of the methods and systems in accordance with the presentinvention also include network adapters coupled to the system to enablethe data processing system to become coupled to other data processingsystems or remote printers or storage devices through interveningprivate or public networks. Suitable currently available types ofnetwork adapters include, but are not limited to, modems, cable modems,DSL modems, Ethernet cards and combinations thereof.

In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to amachine-readable or computer-readable medium containing amachine-executable or computer-executable code that when read by amachine or computer causes the machine or computer to perform a methodfor utilizing finite state machines in a computing system in accordancewith exemplary embodiments of the present invention and to thecomputer-executable code itself. The machine-readable orcomputer-readable code can be any type of code or language capable ofbeing read and executed by the machine or computer and can be expressedin any suitable language or syntax known and available in the artincluding machine languages, assembler languages, higher levellanguages, object oriented languages and scripting languages. Thecomputer-executable code can be stored on any suitable storage medium ordatabase, including databases disposed within, in communication with andaccessible by computer networks utilized by systems in accordance withthe present invention and can be executed on any suitable hardwareplatform as are known and available in the art including the controlsystems used to control the presentations of the present invention.

While it is apparent that the illustrative embodiments of the inventiondisclosed herein fulfill the objectives of the present invention, it isappreciated that numerous modifications and other embodiments may bedevised by those skilled in the art. Additionally, feature(s) and/orelement(s) from any embodiment may be used singly or in combination withother embodiment(s) and steps or elements from methods in accordancewith the present invention can be executed or performed in any suitableorder. Therefore, it will be understood that the appended claims areintended to cover all such modifications and embodiments, which wouldcome within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

1. A method for utilizing finite state machines in a computing system,the method comprising: initiating on a first agent at least one instanceof a finite state machine specification comprising a plurality of statesand a plurality of transitions between the states; removing the finitestate machine instance from the first agent; saving the removed finitestate machine instance in persistent storage; and holding the finitestate machine instance in persistent storage for a period of time. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising serializing the finite statemachine instance.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: removingthe finite state machine instance from persistent store followingexpiration of the period of time; and returning the finite state machineinstance to the first agent.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: removing the finite state machine instance from persistentstorage; and returning the finite state machine instance to a secondagent.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising at least one of:serializing the finite state machine instance; deserializing the finitestate machine instance; serializing context data associated with thefinite state machine instance; and deserializing the context data.
 6. Amethod for utilizing finite state machines in a computing system, themethod comprising: initiating on a first agent at least one instance ofa finite state machine specification comprising a plurality of statesand a plurality of transitions between the states; serializing saidfinite state machine instance in progress; and deserializing said finitestate machine instance.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein: the step ofserializing further comprises serializing the finite state machineinstance on a first agent; and the step of deserializing furthercomprises deserializing the finite state machine on a second agent. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein the first agent is disposed on adifferent physical node than the second agent.
 9. The method of claim 6,further comprising executing a plurality of transitions to advance thefinite state machine instance through the states.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the step of executing the plurality of transitionsfurther comprises executing the plurality of transitions in series. 11.The method of claim 9, wherein the step of executing the plurality oftransitions further comprises executing one or more actions associatedwith each transition on two or more agents.
 12. A method for managingfinite state machines in a computing system, the method comprisingemploying a distributed finite state machine control application programinterface to perform at least one of: determining a set of finite statemachine instances; selecting a target instance; forwarding a transitionto a target instance; forwarding an event to a target instance;registering an instance; unregistering an instance; registering atransition event; and unregistering a transition event.